At the Q2B Silicon Valley conference, scientists, firms, and government officials assessed the quantum computing progress, so the current advances in quantum technology indicate that lab-scale quantum computers are gradually shifting towards being applicable for industry.
The conference brought together key players from the world of science and business to quantify the extent to which the field has advanced. Although a practical quantum computer has not yet been built, speakers said the rate of progress on quantum computers is faster than expected, despite the lag in software.
Hardware Developments Lead to Changes in Expectations
A key concern discussed during the conference revolved around the question of whether current machines have the ability to develop future capabilities that will be responsible for the execution of fault tolerant quantum computation.
Joe Altepeter, the program manager of the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative, said recent results have shifted his outlook.
“On balance, we think it is more likely than not that someone, or maybe multiple someones, are going to be able to make a really industrially useful quantum computer, which is not something I thought I’d be concluding at the end of 2025,” he said.
The program compares the different hardware designs to see which could support fault tolerance quantum computing, a key requirement for reliable machines. After six months of testing, Altepeter said, the team found huge obstacles in every approach.
None were eliminated, though, in a process highlighting broad quantum computer progress across competing technologies.
Scott Aaronson a computer science professor at the University of Texas at Austin says that lots of these core components have finally reached large-system quality.
“In late 2025, it feels to me like all of the key hardware building blocks seem to be more or less in place,” he said.
He called recent hardware gains spectacular and pointed to rising confidence in fault tolerant quantum computation.
Turning Machinery into Useful Tools
Hardware momentum remains strong, while applications still are a challenge.
As quantum computing progress will indeed continue, Ryan Babbush from Google Quantum AI mentions that excitement must be balanced with practical results.
At the same conference, Google Quantum AI and its partners announced finalists in the XPRIZE competition aimed at demonstrating evident advantages of quantum computing for health, clean energy, and other fields.
The projects include simulations of biomolecules, support for new energy materials, and calculations that could aid disease diagnosis. These efforts reflect growing quantum progress toward tasks that matter beyond the lab.
Recent experiments support that view. Over the past year, quantum devices have been used for problems in materials science and particle physics that may soon rival classical methods. Still, limits remain clear.
Pranav Gokhale of Infleqtion presented work on Shor’s algorithm, a method linked to breaking encryption. While it marked progress toward fault tolerance in quantum computing, the demonstration was far from the scale needed to threaten real-world security.
The discussion also touched on long term goals such as superconducting qubit fault- tolerant scaling, which many see as essential for industrial systems.
For now, experts agree that quantum computing progress is real, but the path to fully fault tolerant quantum computation remains demanding and complex.
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